It’s July so that means a new Camden Book Club Pick. This time, it’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.
For last month’s book, please check out our post on Roseghetto.
Chief Bromden is half-native American, residing at a psych ward in 1960s America narrates this talk. While fully capable of speech and his other senses, he plays dumb. Nurse Ratched, the lead nurse runs a tyrannical campaign over the patients in her care.
The only person able to bring down the tyrant is R.P. McMurphy who encourages the patients to have fun, despite Ratched’s power over them. He finds friends in Chief and Billy Bibbit.
McMurphy is Irish-American who was charged with raping a 15-year-old girl. He was also a Korean War vet who was dishonourably discharged for insubordination. Also, he was awarded a prestigious accolade for leading a breakout at a Chinese POW camp.
The themes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest include tyranny, power, shame, sexuality, fear and insanity.
McMurphy teaches his fellow patients that they must fight back against Ratched as she controls them.
Ratched becomes such an issue that McMurphy attacks her, and she almost dies. But she doesn’t because the Orderlies are forced to step in. Her attacker is then lobotomised. Chief, wanting to put his friend out of his misery, smothers him with a pillow.
The Film
You do not need to watch the Jack Nicholson film, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest for this to make sense. If anything, the book is much better than the movie as it gives more context to certain events.
